


The Same Way as Before

by flibbertygigget



Series: The Other 51 [25]
Category: GetBackers
Genre: Angst, Families of Choice, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Physical Abuse, Not Canon Compliant, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-10 21:37:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7009069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbertygigget/pseuds/flibbertygigget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The last thing Ban wants to do is flee back to Germany, especially with Ginji to tow, but with Fudou on his heels he has no choice. Meanwhile, Ginji discovers some disturbing things about his best friend's past and tries to find a way to fix it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Same Way as Before

"Ban-chan, how long is it until we get to Germany?" Ban growls.

"It'll be a few more hours, Ginji. Jeez, can't you leave me alone for one minute?" Ban doesn't want to think about going back to Germany. He doesn't want to think about Ginji finding out about all the shit that he ran away to escape from. And he  _definitely_ doesn't want to think about how the cigarette that he has once he gets off the plane may be the last one he has for... well, for as long as they're here.

Finally, the airplane settles on the tamarack and he and Ginji get going. Ginji is looking around, eyes wide, but Ban keeps his head down. Just being back in Germany is making him nervous.

"So, where does your Gramma live, Ban-chan? Is it a nice place? Ooh, I bet she's a real nice old lady who knits on the front porch and bakes cookies." Ban barks out a laugh. He can think of nothing further from the reality of his grandmother.

"Look, just don't- don't bother her, Ginji. Let me do the talking. Oma... she can be a bit... difficult."

"Like you, Ban-chan?" Ginji teases. He doesn't understand. Well, he will soon enough.

"Yeah," Ban says, dropping the butt of his cigarette and stamping it into the ground. "Just like me."

* * *

Nothing has changed about the house since he left. Ginji stares up at it, intimidated. Mugenjou is one thing, but for a single house to be so big is something completely outside of his experience.

"Ban-chan, did you really used to live here?" he says. Ban just grunts and throws open the door with a creak.

The front hallway is empty as they come in, but it won't be that way for long. Ban can already feel his grandmother's magic growing stronger as she senses them and comes from the back of the house. That's another thing he didn't miss. Ban always hated the feeling of being watched.

"Ah, so you're back, boy." Ban tenses, shifting so that he is in front of Ginji. His grandmother, the Witch Queen, appears out of the shadows, and he feels Ginji jump behind him. She walks up to Ban, glaring at him slightly as she always does, and then she slaps him across the face. Ban ignores Ginji's unhappy noises.

"Nice to see you too, Oma," he says.

"Cheeky brat. I never will understand why I bothered raising you. Perhaps your mother had the right idea after all." Ban tries not to let the hit she scored show on his face, but she can tell. She always could tell.

"Ban-chan, what's she saying? Why did she slap you, Ban-chan?"

"It's nothing important, Ginji." Ban turns away from his partner before Ginji has time to protest and switches back to German. "I wouldn't have come back if it wasn't an emergency. I just need a room to lay low and hide for a while. Fudou is after me, and I'm not at full power."

"Who's this with you?" Ginji glares at his grandmother as her stern gaze comes to rest on him.

"This is Ginji. He's my partner."

"Humph. How long has he put up with you?" Ban doesn't answer.

"Ban-chan, what did she say?"

"She asked how long we've been working together." 

"Oh." Ginji gives her another glare. "We've been working together a long time, haven't we, Ban-chan? We're the GetBackers, with an almost 100% success rate." Ban's grandmother begins to laugh.

"Oh, this is a funny one," she says, still in German. Ginji looks confusedly at Ban, but Ban doesn't move. "Do you expect me to believe that you two are that successful? Or, even better, that you've actually found someone who will put up with you? How long will it be before you've betrayed him as well?" She chuckles to herself as Ban stands in sullen silence. "Fine. Take the room, I don't care. But I'm not giving this to you free, you know. I expect to be brought up to date on the life of my grandson."

"Thank you, Oma." Ban shakes Ginji's arm slightly to lead him to the room they'll be staying in. It will be his old room, he knows. His grandmother wouldn't care enough to give them anything better. As soon as they are out of sight of the old woman, Ginji bursts into a furious shout.

"What was she talking about, Ban-chan? Why did she hit you? Your grandmother is mean, Ban-chan!"

"Shut up, you idiot, she can understand every word we're saying," Ban mutters, glancing around nervously. He knows, he just knows that his grandmother heard Ginji's outburst, and that can only mean that things will be worse later on. "Look, long story short I ran away when I was eight years old. I made my way back to Japan, hoping to find my father, but instead... Well, that's irrelevant. The point is that she's pissed that I ran off, and so she's going to make me pay for it." Ban runs a hand through his perpetually pointy hair. "I'm just lucky that I got off that easily, though I doubt she's done yet. If it wasn't for fucking Fudou..."

"But Ban-chan-" Ban pushed past Ginji as he tried to block him.

"It doesn't matter. Look, I'm tired. I'm going to try to take a quick nap before dinner, alright? Do you think you can manage by yourself for one solitary second?" Ginji nods. "Good." With that, Ban flops down on the bed, back pointedly turned towards Ginji. The least he can do is gain some strength and clarity for the ordeal of dinner with his grandmother.

* * *

Ban twitches under his grandmother's cold gaze from the other end of the long dining table, and Ginji shifts closer to him. Ban ruthlessly tries to suppress any hint of his discomfort. He can't worry Ginji or anger his grandmother. He doesn't even want to think of how Ginji would react to one of her punishments.

"Give me the meat, Ban," his grandmother says. Ban grits his teeth. He will either have to get up and walk all the way over to her... or risk using his powers. He concentrates on the platter of meat in front of him, and to his surprise it actually does move almost a meter.

"Ooh, Ban-chan! Did you do that?" Ban can't help but grin at Ginji's warm approval, and the platter suddenly races across the table. His grandmother looks down at it, shaking her head.

"Weak," she says, and Ban feels the grin slide off his face. "As usual. You wouldn't have been able to move it further if that boy hadn't been helping you." Ban feels a flush of shame spreading over his neck.

"Ban-chan, what did she say?" Ginji is looking at him closely, and Ban struggles to hide his humiliation, but he knows it's no good. Ginji has always had a way of seeing right through him, and right now his partner is turning to glare at his grandmother. "Whatever you said to Ban-chan, you'd better take it back!"

"Ginji, shut up," Ban mutters, but it's too late. His grandmother has her full attention on Ginji.

"I only spoke the truth," she says, suddenly willing to speak in Japanese. "If the boy is unable to use his power to its fullest extent without your interference, than he is unfit to be the future Witch King."

"Well, I don't know much about Witch Kings," Ginji admits, "but there's nothing wrong with having friends help you. Ban-chan helps me all the time. He helped me leave Mugenjou. I could never have done it on my own. He's one of the most powerful guys I know, and I know some really scary and powerful guys."

"Idiot. Your power pales against the full force of the powers of darkness that is the boy's birthright."

"Not that I ever asked for it," Ban mutters. His grandmother turns to him, and he flinches.

"You stay your tongue. Don't forget who you are speaking to."

"Yes, Oma." His grandmother falls silent, and Ban hopes that will be the end of it. Of course, he can have no such luck. "Ban," his grandmother says, switching back to German, "I wonder how this boy would feel about you and your power if he knew of your destiny." Ban tenses, but he doesn't rise to the bait. "After all, the curse says that, because Zeus slew Asclepius, you must destroy the Raitei or be destroyed by him. What would your friend think if he heard that you have only be keeping him this while because you wish to catch Raitei off guard and kill him?" The wood creaks under Ban's fingers. "What will he say when I tell him that it would be in his best interest to kill you right now?"

"He wouldn't do it," Ban says in German, ignoring Ginji's confused and concerned look. "He's not- Ginji isn't Raitei, not like that." His grandmother just smiles, and then she turns back to Ginji. This time, Ban doesn't even have enough energy to try to protect him.

"Do you know the truth about Midou Ban?" she says in Japanese. Ginji glares at her. "He is fated to kill you or be killed by you, and like a snake he is lying in wait, biding his time."

"You're wrong," Ginji says with so much confidence that it hurts. "Ban-chan isn't like that. We're the Getbackers, you see, and the 's' means that we'll never be alone." Ban can't stand to correct him, not yet.

* * *

It's dangerous, perhaps more dangerous than it's worth, to risk being caught by his grandmother like this, but Ban really  _really_ needs a smoke. Maybe if he leans out the window far enough, the haze around him will drift away and she won't notice.

"Ban-chan?" Damn, the cigarette tastes good. Ban hadn't realized how much he had come to depend on them to control his curse until he was forced to go without. "Ban-chan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ginji." And he is. He has to be. He survived for eight years under the care of this woman, a few weeks shouldn't hurt him.

"You don't look fine, Ban-chan." A spiky blond head nudges his armpit, and Ban reluctantly lets Ginji fit himself under his arm. "What did she say that hurt you like this?"

"You wouldn't get it, Ginji," Ban sighs. Ginji pouts.

"Maybe I would. I was in Mugenjou, after all. I know a lot about the bad things that can happen to people, even because of those who should have been protecting them."

"No, you don't understand, Ginji. It's my fault, my curse." Ban turns his face to the sky, unable to look at the innocence on Ginji's face. "It was my curse that caused my father to die and my mother to go insane. It's only because of her magic that Oma didn't end up the same way. I owe her my life."

"But I'm not dead or insane," Ginji says. "Maybe it's not because of your curse." Ban snorts.

"Don't be stupid. I am fated to be alone, the same way I am fated to eventually fight you to the death. Just because I've managed to put it off so far..." He takes another long drag of his cigarette. "Oma's foreseen it, and her visions are never inaccurate."

"But she's mean to you, Ban-chan. You haven't seemed happy even once since we got here." Ban can't help the small laugh that bursts from him. "See? That's better. That's the first time I've heard you laugh since we took off."

"Not everyone can be as perpetually happy as you are, Ginji."

 "I know that, but you shouldn't be sad because of someone who loves you, Ban-chan." Ban doesn't answer, and Ginji gives a little sigh. "At least think about telling me what's wrong. What I said to your grandmother was true; there's nothing wrong with getting help from your friends."

Ban stares into the night sky, feeling the heat that radiates from Ginji. For a moment, he allows himself to wish that his every experience didn't contradict Ginji's well-meaning words.

* * *

When Ban and Ginji go downstairs the next morning, the first thing they see is Ban's grandmother standing there, waiting for them with Ban's pack of cigarettes in her hand. Ban's jaw tightens as she crushes the pack. He hates that he knows what's going to happen next.

"You've been disobeying my rules," she says to him. Ginji shifts, studying his face carefully, and Ban tries not to give anything away.

"Ginji, go back upstairs," he tells his friend. His grandmother smiles as Ginji shakes his head quickly.

"I'm not leaving you, Ban-chan," he says. Ban sighs, his gaze dropping to the floor.

"You know what your punishment is, Ban," his grandmother says.

"Yes, Oma," he says. She hands him a cigarette, and he lights it, hands shaking. She takes it back and takes a deep breath, blowing out the smoke into Ban's face. Then she reaches out and stubs it out on his collarbone, pressing and twisting mercilessly. Ginji tries to bat her away, but Ban holds him back. It won't do any good.

"What do you say, Ban?" Ban doesn't answer, and the cigarette twists again, demanding.

"Thank you, Oma," he grits out between his teeth. She nods, finally satisfied. Ban tries to avoid Ginji's frightened look.

* * *

"Ban-chan..."

"Shut up."

"But Ban-chan..."

"I told you to shut up, alright? It doesn't- it's not important. It'll heal soon enough."

"She hurt you." Ginji's hand is warm and comforting over the cigarette burn, touch light enough to not hurt at all. "Ban-chan, she  _hurt_ you. How could she even-"

"Ginji, it's not a bad burn. I've had worse."

"That doesn't make it right." Ginji's other hand in on his arm, and Ban tenses as his fingers dance over the scars that litter most of his body. "How many of these did she give you, huh? Fighting is one thing, but you didn't fight back. You couldn't."

"Ginji..." Ban is trying to find words, the right words to make it clear to Ginji that this isn't a big deal. "Look, she may not be the best person, but Oma's the only family I have left- that's sane at least. I owe her-"

"You owe her nothing." Ginji has never sounded this angry, not even towards Akebane. "Ban-chan, even in Mugenjou it was- it was terrible to hurt the people that you were supposed to protect, especially if they were just children. If she hurts you again..." Ban shakes his head.

"We just have to stay here for a little bit, just until we get Fudou off our backs. You can't- you can't lose it at her. We're safe here."

"I might be safe here, Ban-chan, but what about you?" Ban doesn't answer.

* * *

Ban crawls into bed beside Ginji, closing his eyes and finally allowing himself to relax as his partner's arms wind hesitantly around him.

"What did she tell you today, Ban-chan?" Ginji whispers, and Ban answers him. He tells him every insult, poison dripping from his mouth dispassionately, as though if he doesn't use the same inflection the words will somehow mean less.

Ban doesn't know why Ginji cares so much. The... physical side of Oma's treatment he can understand, but he can't understand why Ginji would want to hear the insults that his grandmother slings at him almost without thought. After all, it isn't anything that isn't true, no matter how Ginji tries to spin it.

Oddly enough, in these moments that Ban knows would be punished should his grandmother find out, he can almost believe Ginji's soft reassurances. Though he has known how weak and worthless and evil and cursed he has always been, Ginji makes it seem to all fall away, replaced by the almost worshipful tone of his partner.

And when Ginji nuzzles him and says "Everything will be fine, Ban-chan," that- that Ban actually does believe.

 

 

 

 


End file.
